Safe Haven
by StarkidGleek12
Summary: Marley was in love with Jake. Or so she though. After Ryder kissed her in the hallway again, she thought she might be making a mistake but decided to stick it out. Then Jake changes and so does everything she knows. Will Ryder and the Glee club save her before it's too late? I oen nothing related to gler. Rated T for content.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This Ryley FF is inspired roughly by the cliffhanger from "I do" where Ryder and Marley kissed in the hallway. I know Glee has technically covered a relationship abuse storyline in season 3 with Coach Beiste and her husband, but it's never been explored with the high school relationships. I hate vilifying Jake, I really do, but I will go down with the Ryley ship and I figured this could be an interesting angle! The title is also inspired by the Nicholas Spark book, but only that and the theme of relationship violence are the only similarities. Please review so I know if people like it :) I own nothing related to glee! **

Safe Haven

Time: A few hours after Mr. Shue's wedding reception

"Wow Kitty, that was…" Jake said panting.

"Yeah you weren't too bad yourself. Definitely better than vintage Puckerman." she purred. "Now you can't tell me that you're still into the bulimic freak after I pretty much rocked your world." she added as she stretched out onto the disheveled bed next to Jake.

"Kitty, you know this didn't mean anything. I have needs. And, the hotel room was already paid for. It would have been a shame to let it go to waste.

"Mmmm, well tell that to Honey Boo Boo, who had the nerve to apologize after closing the door on a prime opportunity to swipe her v-card. If she really cared, you wouldn't have had to come crying to me at the bar, now would you?" Kitty replied with a pout on her face.

Jake knew he was in too deep. Honestly, it was really frustrating for him that Marley wouldn't give it up to him, after the awesome Valentine's week him and Ryder concocted for her. He understood that she really wasn't ready, but still. She knew what she was signing up for.

"What am I going to do? Marley's going to be so pissed off at me. And I promised Ryder I wouldn't hurt her." he voiced out loud.

"Maybe we can keep this our dirty little secret? No one has to know." Kitty purred seductively, climbing on top of Jake, clearly wanting more.

"Ok. But do not tell anyone this happened! God knows I couldn't take both Ryder and Puck if they kicked my ass for this." he said.

"This? So you admit this is a something more than a one night stand?" she murmured, kissing his neck.

As they turned off the lights and went back for one more round, Jake thought that cheating on Marley maybe wasn't the only mistake he made.

Time: In the hallway after Ryder kissed her the day after the wedding

After Ryder kissed her in the hallway, Marley was in a daze. Why were her emotions so twisted? Didn't she close the door on the drama when she asked Jake to the Sadie Hawkins dance a couple of weeks ago? Sure, Ryder looked a little disappointed when she chose Jake over him, but she was sure he was over it when he was all over the cheerio with the neck brace after the dance. Actually, it looked more like she was all over him when she spotted them in his car as her and Jake were leaving, but whatever. In all honestly, he looked a little scared of her in the days after the dance, and Marley couldn't blame him. She looked slightly unhinged.

"Now maybe if I were with Ryder…he is a really good kisser," she reasoned in her head.

"_Ughhh! Why are you still thinking about it?! It's just a ridiculous crush! They aren't puppies! You can't have both of them! You chose one of them, that is it. If it doesn't work out with Jake, it doesn't work out. But it's not fair to him if you don't give him a shot first." _another voice in the back of her head rebutted.

"But he didn't come up with any of those sweet gestures, now did he? It was all Ryder! He knows you better than you know yourself! Stop torturing the poor boy. YOU KNOW JAKE IS GOING TO HURT YOU IN THE END! Ryder won't be waiting forever! Make the right choice before it's too late Marley!" the first voice practically yelled in her head.

"_Marley's already made the right choice. Why fix it if it isn't broken?" _The other voice replied stubbornly.

"Ughhh shut up already!" she said to the voices, attempting to quiet them as she beat her head against her cool locker.

"Are you ok, Marley?" Santana, her mentor said as she tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Yeah Santana, right as rain." she replied in frustration trying to rid her memory of what happened with Ryder just a few minutes ago.

"You don't look alright. Come on, let's go to the Lima Bean and talk about it." she soothed, helping Marley get her stuff so she can go.

"Alright, let's go." Marley said in defeat. She needed to talk to someone and try to sort out all the jumbled feelings in her brain.

"Alright, so let me guess, it's Ryder and Jake. I know my lady loins don't operate the same as yours, but I do understand what you're feeling."

Santana said fifteen minutes as her and Marley sat down in the Lima Bean with their iced lattes.

"Yeah, I know I chose Jake and everything, but what if that wasn't the right choice?" Marley asked in distress.

"Wait, I happened to notice Jake at the hotel check-in desk getting a room key at the wedding when you weren't with him. Did he pressure you into sleeping with him?" Santana said, looking livid about ready to kill any Puckerman in sight.

"Well no, I told him I wasn't ready-" Marley said trying to calm down Santana.

"Good girl!" Santana said immediately calming down.

"But I felt so bad, he spent so much money trying to make it special and everything." Marley muttered in shame.

"You have nothing to feel bad about. You weren't ready for the full Puckerman experience. And if Jake is anything like his brother, it's nothing to brag about, trust me." Santana said to comfort Marley.

"You know, I'm just going to see what happens with Jake. It can't get any worse. Maybe I'll just try to avoid Ryder." Marley said thoughtfully. "Ok Marley. Just please be careful with him. Puckerman boys don't change their spots easily." Santana said looking really worried.

"I'll be fine Santana. Have a safe flight back to New York."

"Ok. And call or text me if you need anything. And I'll make sure Sam and Brittany are watching you." Santana said hugging Marley as they both got up to leave.

"Thank you so much Santana!" Marley said happily.

"Well look who's here. Vomit-breath and her trusty lesbian sidekick. Only person who's missing is the boy who can't decide which gender he is." Kitty slithered in behind Marley and Santana, voice dripping with hatred. "Kitty, why don't you just knock it off?" Marley snapped.

"Oh I'll knock it off when you starve yourself out of existence. This game isn't over until I say it's over." Kitty replied venomously. "Fine Kitty, your move." Marley challenged, knowing Kitty didn't have anything left in her arsenal.

Kitty who wasn't about to back down from a fight, almost revealed that Jake had already cheated on Marley, but decided not to rock the boat just yet. "Fine, I'm already bored. Just watch yourself. You may have won Jake's heart, but you can't keep a boy like him reined up." Kitty said as she knocked past Marley, her words getting into Marley's head.

"That bitch is up to something. My psychic Mexican third eye is never wrong." Santana said as Kitty left. Marley was visibly shaken. "Don't let her get to you. She's not worth it." Santana said as they left coffee shop.

"I won't." Marley vowed as they parted ways.

_That's it! Something's up with them. I thought Ryder was being really cool about this whole thing? What the hell is happening? I have to maintain control of the situation. Marley is mine! I'm not letting some douche bag get in the way. A Puckerman always gets what he wants. I just have to take it." _Jake thought as he saw Ryder and Marley exchange a look during Glee practice when they all sang _Anything Could Happen_. Jake couldn't shake the feeling that he had. Inside, he knew Marley was too good for him, but he couldn't lose control. He had finally won most of Marley, he just had one more wall to break through. He had taken it slow enough, but now he had to up the game.

"Hey, what the hell is happening between you and Ryder?" Jake stormed up to Marley's locker after Glee practice.

"Nothing is happening. Ok, can you please not make a big deal out of nothing?!" Marley said instantly getting defensive.

"Listen," Jake snarled as he grabbed Marley's wrist roughly. "Don't lie to me. I'm so sick of this love triangle shit. Something is going on, I know it. Stay away from him!" Jake practically screamed as Marley tried to get away from him.

He saw the look of fear in Marley's face. He wasn't expecting to lose control like this. He was becoming the person he never wanted to be: his father.

"I'm sorry, Marley, I just don't want to lose you." He sighed as he released his death grip on Marley's wrist.

He saw that a bruise was starting to blossom on it. Was he really holding it that tight? Marley was silent as she rubbed her throbbing wrist, trying to make sense of what was happening. People in the hallways, including those in the Glee club were giving them weird looks. Marley was praying that this was just a one time thing.

"Are you ok, Marley? Maybe you should go get some Tylenol for your wrist," Jake said gently as he tried to lead Marley to the nurse's office. Marley withdrew when he tried to hold her hand. "I'm fine, Jake. Maybe you should go cool off." Marley implored.

Jake was a little hurt that Marley was scared of him already. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just going to go home now. I think I've just been having a bad day." Jake mumbled.

"Ok." Marley said gently, still confused by the change in events. How did he change so quickly?

When Jake left, Marley tried desperately to get their first fight out of her mind. It must have been her fault. If she wasn't so conflicted about Ryder, Jake wouldn't have been so pissed off right?

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

the small voice in her head said smugly.

"Hey Marley, someone said you and Jake got into a fight just now. Are you alright? Ryder asked as he came up behind her.

"Yes Ryder I'm fine!" Marley said in frustration. She wasn't really mad at him, but she needed to snap at someone.

"Whoa, it's fine, calm down!" Ryder said taken aback. He immediately lowered his voice. "Does Jake know about the…" he started. Marley slammed her locker door and turned to face Ryder. "No he doesn't know, and he's never going to know! Nothing is happening between us Ryder! If you really care, you'll forget about it and move on!" Marley said with fire and desperation.

"Marley, something did happen. If it was nothing, we wouldn't have kissed. I pulled away first, not you! You can't say you didn't feel anything-" Ryder said trying to catch Marley's eye.

"Ryder, please. Let's not make this anymore complicated than it has to be." she pleaded as she walked away.

How did everything fall apart so easily? Little did she know, it wasn't going to get any better for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next couple of weeks, Jake's behavior had become more erratic and unpredictable. Marley wasn't sure what brought out this change. Whenever she didn't call him back right away, he became angry and accused her of the worst (which in this case, was that she was with Ryder.) Ryder had cooled his advances on Marley and they were finally getting to that place where they could be just friends again. Even though she knew that lying to Jake was wrong, she refused to tell Jake about the kiss. There was no telling how he would react. So, the only contact Marley would have with Ryder was during school and Glee club.

Although she couldn't help stealing glances at him in the hallway. She became mesmerized by his every move. The way he moved his hand through his long light brown hair whenever he was thinking about something. The cute way his face scrunched in frustration when Mr. Schue asked him a question in history class. The way he laughed so easily at the littlest things. She caught herself staring at his chiseled and defined muscles. She even felt immense pangs of jealously when random girls sauntered up to him all day, trying in vain to get him to give them the time of day. The feeling went away when they walked away totally dejected, but that still didn't stop her from feeling like any of these girls could take her place in Ryder's heart.

_"Stop thinking about him! Remember, he blew you off ? He just wants you because he knows he can't have you." _the voice in her head returned whenever she was thinking about Ryder at all.

"He didn't blow her off! He had a perfectly valid reason." the other voice tried to reason.

"This is getting really annoying." she thought in frustration when these voices started the same tired argument.

Despite her very inappropriately timed thoughts about Ryder, Marley managed to keep a safe distance from Ryder so as to not arouse suspicion from Jake. Marley managed to maintain the façade of the happy-go-lucky girlfriend of reformed bad boy Jake Puckerman. But was she really happy? Marley never felt the butterflies in her stomach when she went out with Jake. Although Jake tried so hard to be the perfect boyfriend for her, everything felt forced. Especially after the kiss with Ryder. It was like Jake had to fight even harder to keep Marley's attention.

"Oh well." she thought miserably. "If I'm not good enough for Jake, then Kitty will lord that over me for the rest of high school. If I'm not worthy enough to be loved by Jake, then I'll never be good enough for anyone. So I'm just going to suck it up and forget about Ryder Lynn." she finally told herself. And she tried to do that. Until one fateful day in Glee club.

The New Directions were preparing for regionals and Marley was practicing her duet with Blaine for what felt like the millionth time in front of the rest of the club. While they sounded amazing together, something was missing. When the band finished, Mr. Schue and Finn gave each other a frustrated look.

"I don't know what it is, but something is off." Mr. Schue finally said. "You guys are singing it right, but it's like you two aren't feeling the emotion of the song."

"That's it!" exclaimed Finn.

"Wait, what do you mean Finn?" asked Mr. Schue.

"Ok well the duet has always been our strong point in competition, but that wasn't just because we had our two best singers taking lead. It was like they had a strong emotional connection too. Like me and Rachel, Sam and Quinn, Blaine and Kurt…" Finn continued.

"Just a minute Finn, I think you may be right. Hey Blaine, since you already have a pretty heavy solo at the end of the set, do you think you can let Jake take the rein on the duet with Marley?" Mr. Schue asked Blaine.

"Yeah, sure Mr. Schue." Blaine said as he went to go take a seat next to Tina. In all honesty, he didn't look too broken up about losing the solo. "May I interject something here Mr. Schue?" Artie piped up from his wheelchair.

"Yeah what's up, Artie? Mr. Schue prompted.

"Well the duet has been the strong point because there's always been a degree of sexual tension between the two singers. Even though Marley and Jake are dating, there's no feeling when they sing together. It's kind of awkward to watch really. They kind of look like Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It's bland, there's no fire. Now remember when Marley and Ryder played Danny and Sandy during Grease? There was some real fireworks between them." Artie said. The Glee club had no choice but to agree with him.

"You're right Artie. Sit down Puckerman, Ryder get up here." Mr. Schue directed, preparing to give Ryder the sheet music.

"No wait, Mr. Schue. That's a terrible idea!" Marley and Ryder exclaimed at the same time.

"And why is that?" Mr. Schue replied, raising an eyebrow at them. "Because, umm." Ryder started.

"We- we don't harmonize well together?" Marley finished lamely. "Let's just see what we have to work with." Mr. Schue continued, unfazed by their embarrassment. Marley sucked in her breath and Ryder trudged up to the piano, taking his place a few feet away from Marley. "Move closer to Marley, Ryder so you can look off her music." Mr. Schue said to him. The two exchanged an awkward glance and moved closer to each other.

"Good. Begin anytime you're ready." Mr. Schue prompted as him and Finn took seats in the front row.

The band started playing the duet, which was an arrangement of Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson's _Don't You Wanna Stay?_

"Damn it, we sound really good together!" Marley thought in frustration. "And why are we so close? Can Jake see this? Of course he can, he's in the front row! Hey, I seriously forgot that Ryder has gorgeous eyes. Wow." Marley got sidetracked. When the song was over, they just stared at each other and Marley seriously thought Ryder was going to steal another kiss, but was secretly disappointed when he didn't.

"Oh my God, I just got a serious orgasm in my ears!" Tina exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence.

"Is this what a stroke feels like, because I kind of like it." Brittany deadpanned.

"I think it's settled, Marley and Ryder should do the duet." Blaine stated looking at Mr. Schue and Finn.

"And I agree." Mr. Schue said as he stood up. "Do you guys think you're up for it?" he asked.

"Ummm well, it wasn't that great, and I think I'm starting to get a little bit of a sore throat. That wouldn't be fair to the rest of the club." Ryder shuffled awkwardly at the look Jake was giving him.

"Nonsense, you guys sound great!" Mr. Schue scoffed.

"Yeah, with some practice, you could put me and Rachel to shame." Finn stated earnestly.

"How about we put it to a vote?" Kitty asked the room in general with a vindictive gleam in her eyes. She was up to something. "All those in favor of vomit breath and wannabe Zac Efron singing a disgusting love song together at regionals?" Kitty asked, being the first to raise her hand.

The rest of the Glee club, including Mr. Schue and Finn followed suit, except for Marley, Ryder and Jake, who was shooting daggers in Ryder's direction. No doubt, Jake would start a fight about this later.

"Looks like you're outnumbered." chuckled Unique, who winked at Marley.

"You guys will have to spend a lot of time together this week if you guys will be able to compete with Finn and Rachel." Mr. Schue said to the horrified teenagers as he clapped their shoulders. Before either of them could argue, the bell rang and Glee club was over.

"What the hell, Marley?" Jake screamed at her in the hallway after Glee practice.

"Jake, can you please calm down? You're making a scene! Can we please talk about this later?" Marley said tearfully trying to detract any attention from her.

"What are you embarrassed by me? Did you make a mistake by dating me? I saw how you guys were looking at each other. It was disgusting! It was like you were ready to tear your clothes off each other." Jake replied spitefully.

"No Jake! I'm not the problem here! You've been acting like this for a while and I'm sick of it! I chose you Jake! Although that might have been a mistake." Marley also said spitefully, slamming her locker door with unnecessary force.

All eyes were now on them in the hallway. Even Mr. Schue and Finn, who were hanging out by the history classroom couldn't find it in themselves to break up their fight. Mr. Schue eventually saw how out of control they were getting and decided to take action.

"Hey Marley don't you have history class now?" Mr. Schue said as he sidestepped in front of Marley who looked like she was about to throw something at Jake.

Even though he hadn't been her teacher for very long, he saw how out of character this was for her. Frankly, he was scared of this extremely pissed off Marley. Marley turned on her heel with tears in her eyes and tore off down the hallway, dividing everyone like the red sea. Mr. Schue gave Jake a deadly look like: "_We'll be talking about this later._" and turned away to go back to his classroom. Jake sighed in defeat and stormed off to his next class. "What is going on with these sophomores?" Mr. Schue muttered in frustration to Finn.

"I don't know. No matter what, they can't seem to get their issues worked out." Finn replied.

"Wow the Glee kids really are incestuous aren't they?" Sue interrupted the two men. "I think you might run out of angry and angst-ridden sexually explicit songs soon enough William." she said as she sauntered off.

Ryder stood by his locker witnessing the showdown between Jake and Marley. A little part of him felt guilty. Either Jake and Marley would've been in happy bliss or broken up if he would've let Jake go with his brother's half-assed Valentine's day ideas. _"But honestly, if it was the latter, Marley would already be mine." _Ryder thought bitterly, beating himself up for giving Jake all those ideas.

"So I guess nice guys really do finish last?" a voice behind Ryder spoke, breaking him from his violent thoughts of punching Jake's in for yelling at Marley for no reason.

"They're never going to look at us like they're in love with us. You know that right?" Kitty spoke.

"What, you're in love with Jake?" Ryder scoffed. "I thought you just wanted another fertile male soul to feed that demon inside of you." Ryder immediately withdrew when he saw that sad look in her eyes.

"No overly worded, smart ass comment to bite back with? Something must be wrong with McKinley's head bitch." Ryder continued, trying to get her to cheer up, or at least act like the Kitty he knew.

"No, Ryder. Despite what everyone thinks, I am able to feel some emotion other than anger." Kitty replied, rolling her eyes.

"Better not let Coach Sue hear that…hey what's wrong?" Ryder frowned when he saw Kitty's face blanch. "Ughhh God what the hell are they making today for lunch?! The smell is so awful!" Kitty said as she ran to the bathroom, pushing everyone out of the way.

"_Well. That was weird." _Ryder thought as he finally walked to history.

"Hey Marley? Are you ok? Jake seemed really pissed. I'm so sorry about what happened." Ryder said guiltily when he saw Marley's tear streaked face when he finally got to class.

"Hey Ryder, sit down." Mr. Schue ordered when he closed the door to the classroom before Marley could respond. "Marley, do you need to go to the bathroom? Talk to Ms. Pillsbury?" Mr. Schue lowered his voice as he gave Marley a tissue.

"No, I'll be fine Mr. Schue." Marley replied with a small smile. Mr. Schue accepted this, but Ryder sat in his seat, feeling worse than before when he was helping Jake impress Marley.

_"Great. Now I got not only myself in this mess, but also Marley! Wasn't that the whole point of helping Jake? To make her happy, even if it killed me. What am I going to do about this? I guess there's only one person who can help me fix this." _Ryder thought to himself, seeing a little glimmer of hope.

"Ok Kitty. Let's talk." Ryder said grimly at lunch as he handed Kitty a handful of wrapped saltine crackers and a bottle of apple juice.

"What the hell is this Ryder? What are you trying to do? Blackmail me for giving the math teacher a blow job so I could pass his exam, so I leave your precious almost girlfriend alone? Everyone knows this already, so it won't work. I knew you had dyslexia, but I didn't realize you were that stupid!" Kitty replied spitefully.

Despite the tough exterior she was trying to show, Ryder saw the chink in her armor. _"Yep. I knew it." _Ryder thought to himself as he chuckled darkly, sitting across from Kitty. "Yeah I knew that. But there's something else that know one else knows. See, I've dated enough girls to be able to read them." Ryder carefully replied. "What the hell, Lynn? You don't know me." Kitty snapped. "Yeah, well I know when girls are 'on call' from nature so to speak, they change. And I also know from living with in a house full of women, that usually they have the same time of month. And the cheerios are a tight knit group of women. So today when Brittany asked if you had a tampon in Glee today, and you snapped at her, I didn't think anything of it. Until Tina also offered you one but you turned her down. And I knew that Coach Sue has a notebook full of all the info for the cheerios, even little notes about your menstrual cycles that she added after the Quinn Fabray incident a few years ago." Ryder started.

"Wait, how do you know that? We don't even know about that!" Kitty interrupted in indignation.

"The football players stole a copy that we keep in the locker room when we want to get lucky with the cheerios." Ryder smirked.

"Pigs." Kitty muttered under her breath. "Anyway." Ryder continued, getting tired of the interruptions. "It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together, especially after the tummy troubles you mysteriously came down with. Oh, and everyone knows that you and Jake hooked up after the wedding. Except for Marley of course, but perhaps you should be more careful about who you brag to. I had to promise Brittany I was going to get some medical marijuana for lord Tubbington in exchange for this information." Ryder said slyly, trying to rattle her cage.

"Did you really?" Kitty glared at him.

"Yeah, but relax. I gave her catnip instead. She'll never know the difference." he replied.

"Wow looks like all that hairspray you use to tame that lame-ass Justin Bieber hair hasn't totally went to your brain. But what's the point of all this? If you're going to blackmail someone, at least have something to bargain with." Kitty spat at him.

"Oh I do. " Ryder whispered. "Looks like you have more in common with your precious mentor than you thought. Tell me, what did Quinn Fabray do when she got knocked up? Maybe you might want to call her and ask her to accompany you and your demon spawn to a mommy and me class for vindictive blonde bitches." Ryder smirked as he landed the final blow.

"Who told you?!" Kitty practically yelled.

"Oh my God, that was a total shot in the dark that you were pregnant, but I'm glad I'm right because I would've looked like a total moron if I was wrong." Ryder said with victory in his eyes.

"Ok fine! You're right." Kitty muttered in defeat. "But you're no better than anyone else, using Jake's baby to get Marley to magically fall in love with you!" Kitty spat. "Marley will never leave him because she's nothing but a conniving bitch with daddy issues and deep seated insecurities about being alone forever, so she settles for the wrong person all because she's worthless."

"Yeah and you're no better keeping the truth about him being

the baby daddy from him. Doesn't he have a right to know?" Ryder replied. "No, because no matter what, he's always going to choose her until he gets what he wants and disposes her like a used rag." Kitty said as she stormed off.

"Marley, I'm so sorry for blowing up at you. That wasn't right and I feel really guilty." Jake sweet talked to Marley, trying to get her attention. "It's fine Jake." Marley said wearily. "Let me make it up to you tonight. My mom's on call at the hospital, you can help me hit the books. Or, we can hit the sheets…" Jake whispered seductively.

"Ok what time?" Marley said, sick of the fighting. Maybe if she gives him what he wants, maybe he'll back off her with the Ryder situation.

"I'll give you a ride after school." Jake said as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Alright, I'll tell my mom that I'm staying with Unique tonight." Marley replied.

"Sounds like a plan babe." he said as he walked away with the Puckerman swag in his step.

"_Marley, what are you getting yourself into?" _the voice in her head had awakened with a vengeance.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: HEY! Long time, no see! Thank goodness for spring break, it was definitely needed. I'm flattered by all the positive reviews for safe haven. Also, there was one comment made about the thoughts being grouped together being a little confusing. I didn't mean for that to happen, I was just experimenting with dual thoughts for Marley, but that part of the story is over. Just a warning, some of the content may be slightly intense in this chapter. I own nothing related to glee and please review the story, it'd be appreciated! Enjoy :)**

"Hmmm Jake can we please slow down? We have all night you know!" Marley said in frustration as she tried pushing him away. They had only been in his room for twenty minutes to 'watch a movie' as he said, and he was already trying to tear off her clothes.

"Baby, I just want to be close to you. No fighting, just love." he murmured in her ear and bit down hard on her neck.

Marley wanted to vomit from all this crap he was laying on her. What happened to the sweet guy, who serenaded her with her favorite song, and flowers and the necklace. _"Oh wait, that was all Ryder." _she thought bitterly. Then all of a sudden, Jake got aggressive and slammed her body down on the bed and straddled himself over top of her. He remembered something Puck told him: "_Girls love it when you show them whose in control._"

Jake whispered in her ear "You are mine, Marley. There's just one thing standing in the way." and he tried to tug her shirt off.

"No Jake! I don't want to have sex with you just because you're jealous of Ryder!" she yelled angrily at him, pushing him off of her and retreating into the hallway.

She felt a white hot pain whip her across her face and suddenly, she was cowered on the ground holding her face. Jake stood over her trying to apologize when he saw the damage he had done. A welt was rising on her cheek, her nose was bleeding and her eye was developing a bruise. Jake tried to grab her, but he ended up accidentally shoving her down the stairs. This caused a lot of pain in her sides, but she was so shocked and angry, she didn't notice. Before Jake could reach her, she made her way into the living room to get her stuff and ran out the door while he begged her to stay.

Luckily, Jake didn't live too far from the Lima Bean, so she decided she would go there and collect herself before calling someone for a ride. _"Maybe I'll call Unique. She won't ask any questions." _Marley thought miserably as she ran through her options. Marley must have been more shaken up than she thought, because she accidentally slammed the door of the coffee shop and ran into someone who was just leaving. As they both bent down to pick up the stuff they'd dropped in the collision, Marley saw the other person was someone who she did not want to see. It was Blaine. And he wasn't alone either; the rest of the Glee club seniors were all right behind him.

"Who did that to you Marley?" Blaine asked with a worried expression when he saw the mark Jake left on her face.

"It's nothing. I'm just a klutz and fell on my face a little bit ago." Marley tried to say calmly.

"That's not it Marley, you're shaking. What's wrong?" Tina asked. "I'm fine, guys no need to worry." she replied, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Ok, well how about we sit down? I have some Tylenol in my car. I'll go get it for you." Blaine said leading Marley to a table, while Sam got her an icepack and an iced coffee drink to help calm her nerves.

Blaine came back with the pain reliever and tried to rub Marley's back to calm her down, until she withdrew like Blaine had hurt her. Marley kept quiet while her Glee friends tried to get her to talk about why she was so upset. Eventually, Marley stopped shaking and the pain in her head became a dull throb. Marley was calm enough to call Unique for a ride and she came and they left, thanking Blaine and everyone else.

"See you tomorrow!" Brittany said brightly as Marley left.

"What do you think is wrong?" Artie asked, looking concerned.

"I don't know, but she looked really upset about something." Blaine replied.

"Should we tell Mr. Schue or Ms. Pillsbury? She didn't look too great." Tina pondered.

"Not yet, not until we get the whole story. If something bad is going on she won't tell them. You saw how she was around us." Blaine reasoned.

"I think I know who we can tell." Sam spoke up. "Brittany, give me your cell."

Brittany gave him her phone and he went through her contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He pressed the dial icon on the touch screen and then pressed the speaker. After a couple of rings, A voice spoke on the line.

"Hello?" "Hey Santana, it's Sam. Remember how you told us to keep an eye on Marley? I think we might have a problem." Sam spoke into the phone. Blaine then continued the conversation, telling Santana what he observed.

When he was done, Santana asked: "Is she still dating Jake Puckerman?"

"Yeah…" Blaine confirmed in confusion.

"Oh my God." Santana said in shock. "Look guys, we're coming back to Lima next week to watch regionals. Just try to keep watching them. I'm going to try to call Marley and see what's up." Santana then ended the call and the Glee kids gave each other a puzzled look. What was going on?

Marley was at her locker putting more concealer on her face where Jake slapped her the night before. It still hurt a little but it wasn't too bad. Her sides on the other hand, felt like they were on fire. She knew there was a bruise but she was too scared to evaluate the damage. As Marley put the makeup in her bag, her history book fell out of her locker. She leaned down to pick it up, until the pain in her side stopped her. A wave of nausea hit her and she had to use her locker door to steady herself. Marley just wanted to cry. How had things gotten this bad?

Last night, after the awkward experience at the Lima Bean, Unique dropped her off at her house, saying to her mom that she felt sick and decided not to stay overnight in order to avoid any awkward questions. At least the part about feeling sick was somewhat true. She went straight to her room to get a shower and go to bed. She ignored phone calls from both Jake and Santana. All she wanted was just to forget all that had happened. Unfortunately, the blinding pain from her ribcage wouldn't let her.

Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury saw Marley in pain and ran over to see what was wrong. Marley tried to play it off, but her hand had accidentally caused her shirt to ride up, and Ms. Pillsbury saw the bruise which had peppered her ribcage. Mr. Schue saw the look of horror on the guidance counselor's face and directed his eyes to where hers was fixated.

"Marley, what happened?!" Mr. Schue asked horrorstruck.

Before Marley could come up with a lame excuse, another wave of nausea and blinding pain hit her and she had threatened to keel over entirely. "Let's get her to the nurse. Now!" Ms. Pillsbury demanded.

Coach Beiste, who was also standing in the hallway talking to Sam and Ryder about football, saw what was going on. Her and the two boys went over to Marley, Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury to see if they could help. "That looks like a bruised rib." the coach said when she saw the bruise. Ryder and Sam took Marley under her arms and rushed to the nurse's office, while the teachers ran behind them.

Once in the safety of the nurse's station, Marley burst into tears because of all the pain and embarrassment. Marley was led over to the bed while the adults explained what they saw. Ryder and Sam stood by Marley and looked in horror at each other. While the nurse got ready to examine the damage, the coach directed the boys out and Mr. Schue walked out behind them, exchanging a look with Ms. Pillsbury. The guidance counselor said to Marley quietly "We're going to talk about this later." and left.

Luckily, Marley's ribs were just bruised and she was dismissed from the nurse just in time for Glee club, with the order to not do anything too strenuous. Marley went to her locker and was stopped by Mr. Schue.

"Ah, feeling better Marley?" She gave him a small nod. "Well good. Come on, Ms. Pillsbury needs to talk to you." he said and followed her to the guidance office. When she walked in, her stomach dropped.

Ms. Pillsbury was accompanied by Blaine, Sam and Santana. This meant only one thing; Blaine and Sam told everyone about the weird events of the previous night.

"I came here this morning on the red-eye flight from JFK after you ignored all my calls." Santana announced unceremoniously. Luckily, Sam told me about what happened in the hallway when I got back to Lima. Oh and you're doing a crappy job hiding that shiner, by the way." Marley's mentor said with her eyes narrowed.

"Santana that's enough!" Mr. Schue said forcefully. "Let Marley explain for herself what happened." he added.

"And don't say it was nothing Marley, you're a terrible liar." Blaine said as Marley sat down in shame.

"Ok, everyone." Ms. Pillsbury said loudly. "I think we have everyone's story here, all of you go back to class while Marley and I have a little chat." she said as she gestured to Mr. Schue to lead everyone out.

The room emptied and Marley was soon alone with the kind woman who sat behind the desk.

"Ummm Marley, did Jake Puckerman do that to you?" Ms. Pillsbury started.

She saw the look of fear in Marley's eyes and the tears that were threatening to spill out of them. This only confirmed what she suspected. _"Oh dear. This was going to be a long conversation." _the horrorstruck guidance counselor thought to herself looking at the girl across her desk.

Meanwhile, all hell was about to break loose in the choir room. While Finn, Rachel and Kurt, who also came back to Lima early, were talking to the Glee club, Santana tore through the room in an angry rage, stopping herself in front of none other than Jake Puckerman.

"What the hell did you do to her? And don't play stupid Jew-Fro. I know something is wrong!" Santana screamed at him.

"SANTANA!" Mr. Schue yelled. "Calm down. We'll find out what happened." Santana sat down in an angry rage next to Brittany and Sam and glared at Jake while Mr. Schue turned to him.

"Jake, what happened?"

"Nothing happened! We wouldn't have this problem if everyone would mind their own damn business!" Jake screamed defensively.

"Then why in the hell did Marley spend the whole morning in the nurse's office and now she's in Ms. Pillsbury's office?" Ryder yelled angrily at him. Blaine and Sam had to try to hold him back.

Jake started to look a little unhinged as Ryder said this, like he was trying to hide something but everyone found out. Before Mr. Schue could question him further, Ms. Pillsbury stormed into the choir room.

"Will? I need you to come with me to the office. Now." she announced forcefully.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey everybody! Thanks for all the reviews for this story, I really hope i'm doing it justice. I know i'm dragging out the ryley, but just wait to see what I have planned! Also, if you haven't read any of my other stories, i'd love it if you could! And please review. I own nothing related to glee!**

"Finn, watch the class. I'll be back soon." he said and followed Ms. Pillsbury to her office. When he walked in, he saw Marley crying uncontrollably and Coach Beiste comforting her and Ms. Pillsbury explained what happened.

"Marley said her and Jake have been fighting a lot since Valentine's day and he started to become more-controlling."

"Wait, controlling how? Sexually?" Mr. Schue interrupted.

"I'm getting to that. After what happened in Glee club where you gave her and Ryder the lead duet, her and Jake got into another fight. Then, he calmed down and he tried to seduce her into having sex with him. Marley tried to tell him she wasn't ready, but he got violent and hit her. When she tried to run away, Jake accidentally pushed her down the stairs, which explains the bruised ribs."

When she finished with the story, Mr. Schue was in shock. He knew Jake had anger issues, but how did he let it get so out of hand? Why would he hurt Marley, who has obviously been hurt so many times before? Then it dawned on him. Jake was jealous and afraid of losing Marley. Even though Jake had caused so much pain and trouble, he felt a little bad for the boy. But he knew they had to convince Marley that she had to get out before it got even worse.

"Marley are you sure? Accusing Jake of this could not only ruin his life but yours too. If Jake gets some sort of punishment for this, then everyone will start talking and I'm afraid the Glee club won't be able to shield you from this." Mr. Schue said sympathetically.

"Wait, punishment? Jake's not a _bad_ person." she said quietly. "Marley, we're not saying he is a bad person. But it's not healthy to put yourself in an abusive relationship because you feel you can save him. He needs help. This might be the push he needs. Think about it." Ms. Pillsbury replied.

Coach Beiste spoke up. "She's right pumpkin. Abusers aren't bad people, they just have a lot of deep seated issues that prevent them from having healthy relationships. You still have time to get yourself out of this."

Marley was quiet as she mulled her options. "Do you want to file a report and Principal Figgins and I will investigate this?" Ms. Pillsbury spoke up finally. Marley finally nodded her head reluctantly and she felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders.

"Ok, well I will need you to sign this saying everything you're saying is the truth. I will talk to Principal Figgins and Jake and we'll go from there." Ms. Pillsbury said to her, trying to smile comfortingly.

"You're doing the right thing." Coach Beiste said as she gave Marley another tissue.

Mr. Schue wasn't sure what to say but he tried anyway. "Marley, do you want to take a break from Glee club temporarily until we figure out what to do? Jake will probably be suspended at least from Glee club but that might cause some tension. I want you to be in the right mind-set."

"No." Marley replied adamantly. "I'm sick of running away from my problems. I know everyone will talk but I need to move on."

"That's really good Marley. I'm really proud of you for admitting this and acknowledging the consequences won't be easy." Mr. Schue said to her. "How about this, we'll go back to Glee club and I'll take Jake here to talk to Ms. Pillsbury. I promise, the Glee club will be on your side no matter what happens."

"Ok. Let's go." Marley sighed. As they walked to the Choir room, they saw Finn in the hallway with Jake, who was crying and nursing a busted nose. Finn looked like he was trying to hold back from punching Jake.

They looked up when they saw Marley and Mr. Schue return. Jake was the first one to speak.

"Marley I'm so sorry." he sobbed.

"Save it Jake." Finn said gruffly as Marley pushed him out of the way without meeting his eyes. Finn followed her into the choir room and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry about what you had to go through with him. No one deserves to be treated like that. Mr. Schue took him to the office. Are you ok?" he whispered over the screaming in the background.

"Yeah Finn, I'm fine." she replied as she pulled her arms closer to her chest and gave him a small smile.

She turned around to take a seat and saw utter chaos before her. Santana was cursing in Spanish as Kitty screamed back. "She's making it all up! Someone told her I hooked up with her boyfriend when she wouldn't put out and got pregnant! She's just doing this to get back us! I told everyone she's nothing but a conniving bitch but did anyone believe me? No! Now she's bound determined to screw up Jake's life because she's jealous that he loves me more!"

Sam and Blaine were on the other side of the room trying to calm down Ryder, who looked like pissed off. Kurt, Rachel and the others were all watching in the scene in the choir room in shock. Unique, Brittany and Tina all ran up to give Marley a hug and explain what happened. Artie beat them to it however.

"Jake admitted to hitting you when Mr. Schue left about fifteen minutes ago. Ryder got pissed off and punched Jake in the face and threatened to beat him to a pulp until Sam, Blaine and Finn pulled him off. Finn took Jake outside because no one is sympathizing with him." Artie said with his eyes narrowed.

Unique finished the story for him. "Then, Kitty got up in a rage and claimed you were just trying to ruin his life. When we asked her why, she admitted she was four weeks pregnant and claimed that he loves her."

Marley felt like she was punched in the stomach. Not only did Jake treat her horribly and make all those accusations that she was cheating on him with Ryder, but he did the exact same that he accused her of and not only ruined Marley's life, but Kitty's too. At first, she was mad, but she mostly felt bad they were all in this situation and they would all be connected by it. Marley screwed with Ryder's feelings for her all because she was ignorant enough to believe she could save Jake. Kitty's life was ruined because she got pregnant and Jake will probably never be a part of the baby's life. Marley's head was spinning from the complexity of the situation.

Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury came back to the room and everyone settled down.

"Ok guys. I have some bad news. Jake has admitted to everything and he is now suspended pending a formal investigation. The Lima police are also going to look into this, but the worst that could happen is he's given a restraining order until he completes anger management counseling. He'll probably have to do home-schooling for the rest of this year and probably next year until he shows that he's ready to come back. For now, we're just going to let the school board and authorities handle this. I don't want you guys to harass Marley about this. It's bad enough to know that everyone else in the school will know about this in a few hours, but she needs some friends in her corner. Three lives will be changed forever from this and there's no turning back." Mr. Schue announced to everyone. He directed his next words specifically to the four remaining sophomores in the room: Kitty, Marley, Ryder and Unique. "After this year, we lose the original members of the Glee club. We'll only have two from the national championship team from last year. You guys can't afford to fall apart. You guys are now the glue holding the club together. When you graduate, it won't matter who dated who, or who screwed who over. The Glee club is a _family_. You are the future of this family. It's important for the good of this club that you hold a united front and rise above this." The room was quiet after Mr. Schue's speech.

The bell rang and they all shuffled out of the room. Marley tried to keep her head down but she could feel some of the eyes of the fellow students on her. Blaine and Santana came up on either side of her and she immediately felt better. Santana was the first to speak.

"Marley, why did you let him do this to you? I know somewhere in his sick, demented mind he still loves you, but this was just wrong. Not even Puck would treat a woman like that, and that's saying something!" she whispered angrily.

"I know Santana, I should've told you guys about it. I don't want everyone to vilify Jake." she admitted miserably.

Blaine cut in before Santana could say something else. "Santana, please lay off Marley. It's bad enough that everyone probably knows that Jake's been suspended. Do you want a ride home Marley?" he asked her sympathetically.

"Yeah, that'd be great Blaine." Marley choked out tearfully.

Ms. Pillsbury interrupted them.

"Hey Marley, I know you've talked about this more than you probably want to, but I need you to come back to my office and tell your mom. She's already in there." Marley immediately followed her back to her office, eager to get this part over with.

A half-hour later, Marley was walking out of Ms. Pillsbury's office with her mom. Luckily her mom wasn't mad about all the lying and was willing to support her. She even suggested another move to a different school district, but Marley was adamantly against it. She was going to hold her head high no matter what was going to happen. Unfortunately, Marley's mom had to work late so Marley texted Blaine to see if he was ready. He told her to wait a few minutes, so she stopped by the bathroom. Marley looked as horrible as she felt. She still had the bruises and you could tell she had been crying. When she put water on her face, she saw Kitty walk behind her.

"What do you want Kitty?" Marley asked wearily, turning around to face her. Instead of saying anything, Kitty slapped the hell out of her instead.

"How could you do this to me?!" Kitty sobbed. "God, what the hell is your problem? Why are you so determined to ruin my life?!" she demanded.

"Kitty, I didn't do this to you! Don't you ever get tired of playing the victim? I have done absolutely nothing to you, but you still made my life a living hell! I thought we were friends now? Why did you go behind my back?!" Marley yelled at her. Kitty just shrank back against the wall and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"You had no right." she sputtered out. "I can't deal with this on my own. I needed Jake! My life is ruined now." Kitty said miserably. "Kitty, Jake isn't a bad person, but do you really want to put yourself and your baby at risk? I didn't think he was capable of that, but he is. He needs help. And it's not the end of the world." Marley comforted her, hugging her.

"No it's over! I made an appointment for tomorrow to get rid of it. I can't risk anyone else knowing about this. My parents would kick me out for sure and do you honestly think I could still be a cheerio if I kept it?! I need to be popular! My parents never accept anything less than the best. I mean, they practically disowned my sister when she decided to major in fashion design instead of pre-law! I'm never going to be good enough for them!" Kitty said miserably.

Despite everything Kitty had done to her, Marley the decision to help her out. "No Kitty." she told her firmly. "You are not getting rid of the baby." Marley said, holding the crying girl.

"Marley, we live in real life. There's no way in hell that my parents would let me stay with them and support me. I can't raise a baby on my own. I have no other choice." Kitty whispered.

"Ok, you do have a choice. You're telling your parents. Tonight. I'll go with you in case anything happens and you're staying with me if they kick you out. You're going to get through this. And i'm not the only one on your side. The Glee club is a family and when family is down, they build you back up. Now come on. We have to show the world that we're not letting a stupid guy bring us down." Marley said to Kitty as they stood back up and walked out of the bathroom.

"Ok then. Well here goes nothing." Kitty said hesitently as both girls prepared to face the world.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey everybody! I hope y'all are liking the story! I'm kind of getting writer's block with all my in-progress stories because RIB killed my ryley feels, but i;m definitely going to continue because it's the only thing keeping me from writing very mean letters to the writers. Also it's not helping that the show is taking so many breaks! But I have a theory about this. There's some rumors that RM wants to shake up the show a little bit and they haven't even shot any episode related to regionals so I think they're purposely screwing up the timeline so they can stretch out the stories of this season into next season so I think the breaks are for continuity. Unfortunately, I don't know what's going on but hopefully they get their hot mess figured out ASAP! And excuse my Ryley rant but I refuse to believe they're over! First of all, Jake's first serious relationship as a reformed player won't last. They never do. Marley's just the one who rehabilitated him. And keep in mind, finnchel wasn't officially a thing until the end of season 2. But I think Marley needs to be single for at least a little bit before officially devoting herself to Ryder. I felt like Jarley happened too soon after the eating disorder, which I was ticked off because of how that ended but maybe they'll go back and explore it later. I guess we'll have to see what happens. ANYWAYS, rant over. Please read and review. Sorry if anyone was confused by how everything was thrown together last chapter, I was just trying to find a resolution for the first part. This chapter may seem a little shorter and anti-climatic because I'm trying to build it up for my next surprise. Also, I threw in some ryley moments, but they aren't officially together yet, they're building back up their friendship. I own nothing related to glee!**

At the time Marley and Kitty walked out of the bathroom, Blaine and Ryder were standing by the lockers until they saw the girls. Marley was the first one to speak.

"Hey Blaine, I think I need to pass on that ride. Kitty and I have some important business to take care of." Marley whispered to him.

"Are you sure? Do you guys need any help?" Blaine asked seriously.

Then Kitty broke her silence. "Actually Blaine, could you give us a ride to my house? I'm pretty sure my parents are going to take my car when they kick me out." Kitty said meekly, staring at the ground.

"Kitty, everything's going to be fine. And of course I will. Anything to help out a friend." Blaine said reassuringly.

Then, Ryder spoke up. "This is all my fault. Kitty, I shouldn't have outed you that one day at lunch. You clearly weren't ready for anyone to know and I should've respected that. But I swear, I never told anyone else, not even Marley. And Marley, I feel like I got you into this mess with Jake. If I didn't make a move on you in the hallway, Jake would've never treated you like he did. And I should've noticed that something was up all the times Jake yelled at you in the hallway. I'm so sorry for all this." Ryder said sincerely to both of the girls.

Kitty was the first to speak to him. "Yes Ryder, your blackmail scheme was a little half-assed and sort of backfired when you didn't use any of your information against me, but if you didn't know what was up, I probably would've done something I would regret. So, I guess I have to thank you Ryder." Kitty said, giving him a hug.

Then, he looked at Marley, expecting her to say something. "Ryder, none of this was your fault. I accidentally led you on and it wasn't fair to either you or Jake. And I think Jake would've snapped either way. I thought I could handle him but I couldn't. So I think it's time to move on from this, once and for all. And honestly, things were kind of lonely when I was avoiding you over the last few weeks, so can we please be friends again?" Marley said to him.

Ryder gave her a bear hug and whispered in her ear "Of course, Marls."

Then, Blaine interrupted the scene.

"So Kitty, how are you going to tell your parents?" he asked nervously.

"I don't know. I think I'm just going to come straight out and say it. But will you guys go with me? Like, not when I tell them but can you just wait outside for moral support?" Kitty asked her friends.

"Yeah, of course." Ryder confirmed, wrapping both arms around both girls and leading them down the hallway.

"How about this, you girls go with Ryder and I'll follow in my car so we can get your stuff out if the worst case scenario does come true?" Blaine asked as everyone nodded in confirmation in the parking lot.

"You guys have no idea how much this means to me. Why are you being so nice to me?" Kitty asked them.

"Because deep down inside, the glee club is the only place you fit in and we need to stick together. Yeah, you're kind of a bitch to everyone, but we accept that about you." Blaine said simply.

Then they all left and twenty minutes later, Ryder and Marley were sitting in his car, a few houses away from Kitty's waiting in anticipation. Marley was fidgeting nervously and looking back at Kitty's house seeing if there was any sign of her. Ryder sensed how nervous she was and took her hand.

"Hey Marley, it could work out better than you guys think." he soothed. "Hmm. Maybe." Marley mumbled. The, she was interrupted by a text from Kitty.

"_I'm coming. My parents kicked me out. They found out earlier and took the liberty of packing my stuff up. Are you sure it's ok for me to stay with you?"_

Marley told Ryder what Kitty said as he drove closer to Kitty's house, then quickly replied to Kitty's text.

"_I'm so sorry about that and of course it's ok! I asked my mom before we left school. She's fixing the guest room up. It's going to be fine."_ Marley replied.

As soon as she sent it however, they saw Kitty running towards Ryder's car with a couple of bags. Blaine was carrying a couple of boxes to his car. Kitty cried when she threw herself in the backseat. Marley immediately got out of the car and moved to the backseat. "It's going to be fine, Kitty." Marley said to the girl.

Fifteen minutes later, they were at Marley's modest and simple home. Ryder and Blaine took all of Kitty's stuff inside and Mrs. Rose instructed them to put it in the guest room and they left. Her and Marley led Kitty to the couch and Marley tried to get Kitty to calm down while Mrs. Rose made her some tea.

"How did they find out?" Marley asked quietly when Kitty settled down enough. "They found the number for the abortion clinic and the date and time for my appointment in my laundry today. They said it was bad enough that I got myself knocked up but I was planning on getting an abortion. They said they didn't want everyone to find out because my dad's the pastor at the church and it'd look bad for them. So, they kicked me out." Kitty sobbed.

"But, how can they do that? Wouldn't everyone find out anyway?" Marley asked, confused.

"I don't know. I mean, they'll probably make up some lame story but I don't care! They said they were embarrassed by me and that they'd have to move out of Lima. I can't raise a baby on my own, Marley." Kitty replied.

"You're not doing this alone. They offer free classes down at the community center for teen moms. And I'm here for you and so is everyone in the Glee club. Also, you're not the only single mom in the world. My mom's raised two kids on her own. I mean, my brother and I aren't perfect, but she's done an amazing job. You know he's studying pre-med at OSU?" Marley reasoned calmly.

"Look, how about you go take a nap in your room and we'll talk later?" Marley said, ushering Kitty to her room.

When Marley went into the kitchen, she took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. "Marley, I admire you for doing this and helping out that girl, but why? I mean, didn't you tell me she was making your life miserable?" Mrs. Rose asked as she gave Marley a cup of tea.

"I know this is really screwed up, but you always told me that I should try to help everyone, even if they don't deserve it." Marley said with a small smile.

"Well, I'm glad I actually taught you something." Mrs. Rose replied proudly. Marley went to bed later, feeling completely stressed out, exhausted and hurting from everything that had happened the past two days. Marley thought she'd get some sleep but she was wrong. She couldn't stop having nightmares about Jake and what he did. They got progressively worse throughout the night and she woke up in a cold sweat. She was finally awakened by her alarm clock in the middle of a particularly disturbing one where Jake tied her to her bed and set it on fire because she still wouldn't have sex with him. Kitty came in her room after Marley pushed the snooze button with a cup of coffee.

"I figured you probably didn't get much sleep. I kept hearing you wake up." Kitty said meekly as she gave Marley the coffee. "Was it Jake?" Kitty asked quietly.

After a few minutes, Marley answered. "Yeah. I don't know why I'm so scared. I mean, he's gone." Marley replied quietly.

"He'll never be gone. He'll always have control over us. It was part of his charm. It was why we thought we were in love with him. " Kitty said bitterly.

"You were in love with him?" Marley asked suspiciously.

"Honestly? I thought I was. But then again, maybe I only liked him because it'd piss off my dad. Girls like us always go for the projects. Now come on, we have to go to school now that everything's out of the frying pan and into the fire." Kitty replied wryly. An hour later, Marley was at her locker, avoiding all eyes. She knew that the school's grapevine was buzzing, thanks to a new blog post from Jacob Ben Israel that had all the Kitty-Marley-Jake drama in it. Then, Ryder sidled up to her.

"You know why everyone's buzzing this morning?" Ryder asked.

"Why?" Marley replied humorlessly.

"A truck full of donuts crashed on it's way to the Lima Bean this morning. Donuts are everywhere, it's a total free-for-all. McKinley's on a massive sugar buzz right now. With all the excitement, everyone's pretty much forgotten about everything's that happened before eight a.m. this morning." Ryder smiled.

Marley laughed at his joke, realizing it wasn't true but it made her feel a little bit better. Over the next week and a half, Marley kept herself busy up until regionals to avoid the drama. It seemed the Glee Club was working in overdrive, even more determined to win. Marley still had nightmares about Jake, but she started taking melatonin at night before falling asleep so she was able to at least get a little bit of sleep. The Monday before regionals, Marley and Kitty found out the fate of Jake's future. He wouldn't be sent to juvie or anything because it was his first incident of assault, but he had a restraining order in place against the both of them and he'd have to go to therapy. There was a rumor that his mom was pulling him out of the district, but they were still living in Lima, so that didn't confirm anything. Marley started to feel a little bit better, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that it was just the calm before the storm. Soon enough, it was Friday, the day of regionals. Mr. Schue got Principal Figgins to let the Glee Club out of class after lunch for one last practice. The word around school was that Jake came back one last time to turn back in all of his books and that his mom had officially pulled him out of McKinley. This happened when Marley was in Glee practice, so she didn't acknowledge it. After the last run-through of the regionals set list, they were dismissed to get ready to go with much praise from Mr. Schue. Ryder walked Marley to her locker with them talking and joking around, trying to avoid how nervous they were for the show. Then, Ryder asked her a question.

"Hey Marls. I know you're not ready for anything yet, but I was hoping that after the show we could go to breadstixs and hang out. Like just as friends. No pressure or anything." Ryder asked nervously, running his hands through his hair.

Marley suddenly felt the happiest she'd been in weeks. "That sounds great, Ryder. I'd love to." she replied earnestly.

"Great!" Ryder replied, but Marley stopped listening when she opened up her locker and Ryder saw her pick up a single red rose.

"Did you put this in here?" Marley asked him with wide eyes.

"No. I didn't do it. Is there a note or anything?" Ryder asked, slightly concerned. Then, her eyes darted to the door and she slammed the locker closed. She leaned against the lockers, her face as white as a ghost and hyperventilating.

"Hey, Marley? What's wrong, tell me?!" Ryder said, grabbing Marley by the shoulders so she was facing him.

"It's. Him. He'll never go away!" Marley cried, leaning into Ryder.

"Shhh. Hey, it's fine. But you need to tell me what happened so we can figure out what to do." he soothed as he hugged the crying girl and rubbed circles into her back. She settled down and opened the locker so Ryder could see what happened.

Ryder didn't notice anything strange other than the rose, than looked at the door at her small whiteboard. It said: "_Break a leg. I'll be there.-J_"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Wow two chapters in one night, I must be on a roll! This chapter is really short, but that doesn't mean it's not action packed! This one might be really intense as it contains a scene of violence and sexual assault, so sorry but it's rated T for a reason! Please shoot a review and I hope everyone enjoys this! I own nothing related to glee!**

Ryder knew what that implied and slammed the door shut in frustration. Marley sobbed even harder and Ryder held her, whispering words of comfort in her ear. A few minutes passed and Mr. Schue passed them, noticing something was wrong.

"Hey guys. What's up?" he asked. Ryder opened the door and Mr. Schue's eyes widened in horror as he took down the whiteboard. "Hey Marley, I'm sure this doesn't mean anything. No one saw Jake do anything other than turn in his books and leave. I doubt he'd do anything stupid to get himself in even more trouble, but we'll keep an eye out tonight." Mr. Schue tried to reassure her.

Marley gave him a small nod and took a deep breath as she took back her whiteboard that Mr. Schue erased. Mr. Schue left them and Ryder pulled up Marley's chin so she was looking into his eyes.

"Come on, let's go to the vending machine and I'll get you a bottle of water. Then we'll go back to the choir room, get ready for the show and we'll kick ass and bring back another regionals win. Everything's going to be fine." he smiled as he calmed her down.

She hugged him and they walked away in silence. Marley was through letting Jake get to her, she realized as Ryder held her hand down the empty hallway.

When the New Directions were backstage getting ready, Marley was shaking as she nervously looked through the curtain into the crowd. She didn't know if Jake was in the crowd. He could be any of the hundreds of faces out there. The fact that Jake could be anywhere freaked her out. She didn't tell Kitty because she didn't want to worry her too. God knows she had enough to worry about. Ryder came up behind her and turned her around so she was facing him.

"Take a deep breath. It's going to be fine." he told her firmly with a smile on his face. It was a good thing Ryder always had the "glass half full mentality".

Then, none other than the famous Rachel Berry came up next to them. Marley had met her in passing but she had taken over as Marley's mentor when she came back with Kurt and Santana and quite honestly, she looked up to her. Rachel had even suggested that they take one of the duets that her and Finn had written before instead of the other one.

"Hey guys! I just wanted to wish you good luck." the older girl greeted brightly. "Thanks Rachel. Thanks for letting us use one of you and Finn's songs." Marley replied with a smile.

"It's no problem. I remember when Finn and I took it to nationals a couple of years ago. We would've won if we hadn't of kissed onstage when it was over but it was worth it. I'm not saying you guys should kiss onstage after the song, but…" Rachel chuckled fondly at the memory.

"Ummm. I don't think that'll be an issue." Ryder stammered nervously and Marley was slightly disappointed when he said this but didn't let it show.

Then, it was showtime. Marley and Ryder were first. They sang the original song and received a standing ovation. They looked at each other in surprise like they were seeing each other for the first time. Before anything else could happen, the rest of the Glee Club came out on stage and they finished the set list. Marley could feel that it was in the bag for them based on the reactions from the audience. Marley's suspicions were correct when the New Directions won. The entire Glee Club was freaking out and Ryder picked up Marley and spun her around. When he put her down, they looked at each other and Marley was the first to lean in for the kiss. Ryder held her tightly as their lips melted into each other. They forgot where they were, even with all the cheering from the rest of the Glee Club. They broke apart as everyone smiled at them.

"About time!" Sam yelled in approval.

Everyone left the stage in a haze of excitement and cheering. Marley escaped all the hugs and yelling and made her way to the bathroom to freshen up.

"I'll be right back." she said to Ryder.

She made her way down the hallway of the venue alone. She jumped when a deep voice came up behind her.

"That was pretty good. I thought you and Ryder would start going at it when you were done." she heard Jake say drunkenly as she turned around.

She looked around to see how far she was from everyone, but Jake slapped her hard across the face and pulled her roughly into a nearby utility closet. Before she could fight him off, he pinned her to the wall and moved his face closer to hers.

"Don't say anything and don't do anything you or I will regret." he murmured as he moved his mouth along her neckline and his hands traveled on her body.

Marley whimpered and felt nauseated when she smelled alcohol on his breath. She did the only thing she could think of and lifted her knee and slammed it into his crotch hard to try and get away from him. Before she could run out the door, Jake threw her on the ground, causing her to hit her head on the hard floor. She lost her sight temporarily and Jake kicked her in the ribs and stepped on her windpipe to keep her from screaming in pain.

"You bitch! I told you not to do anything stupid. You honestly think that would stop me? No! I could go all day baby." he sneered as he got down on top of her and help her head up by her hair.

He somehow pulled her underwear down with her dress still on and thrust himself inside of her.

"Say my name. I said say it!" he yelled as he slapped her again when she wouldn't comply.

Marley refused to let him win. Marley gritted her teeth as the tears streamed down her face when Jake grinded against her painfully. After what felt like a million years, Jake was finally done. He pulled his pants back up and looked down at her in disgust.

"What the hell was I thinking? That wasn't worth it." he spat as she pulled her underwear back up to regain a little bit of dignity.

Then, left the room with her laying on the floor. As the door closed, she heard an irritated female voice cursing in Spanish. Marley tried to sit back up, but vomited and the room started spinning when she caught sight of blood mixed with the bile. Before she lost consciousness, she thought she saw the door open and the light of the hallway flooded in the dark closet. An undefined figure hovered over her as the world slowly became darker. "Oh my God. Someone call 911!" the velvety smooth voice of Ryder yelled tearfully as her held her in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: OH. MY. GOD. This chapter almost didn't get finished tonight, because my shipper heart went into cardiac arrest. I keep hearing all these rumors about a ryley duet at regionals and I just don't know what to believe anymore. Plus all the jennoist rumors on twitter and tumblr and i'm like "Wait STAHPP! Is anything real anymore?!" Oh well, as long as everyone is happy, it's cool. As long as I get some ryley onscreen in the future!. Also I've been super busy with school and it's almost the end of semester so I've been swamped with an unearthly amount of homework and I can't seem to find time to write anything, college life you know.**** I wanted the start to a happy ending so I think I only have one or two more chapters left of Safe Haven, kids. But it was a fun ride and I love all of you that read this and I hope you all enjoyed. I own nothing related to glee! Please review :)**

Marley felt like she was in one of her nightmares. Her slightly crazy and masochistic nightmares about Jake. But unfortunately there wasn't an alarm clock to pull her out of it. As Jake smothered her and thrust himself inside of her, she tried to scream but he choked her to keep her quiet.

"_It's ok, Marley._" a voice told her warmly.

But she didn't recognize it as Jake's. It was Ryder's. She felt a hand pulling her out of her haze. Then, she forced herself to open her eyes. She was laying in a hospital bed, connected to beeping monitors with a neck brace around her, giving her the choking sensation. Ryder was holding her hand.

"Ryder?" she said hoarsely, scaring the boy slightly.

He was the only one in the room with her, but she could hear a woman screaming in a foreign language outside the door while two others tried in vain to calm her down. "Santana, relax! You're going to wake her up!" the calm voice of Ms. Pillsbury told her sternly.

"She wouldn't be here if they would have done their job and kept that psychopathic freak away from her!" Santana retorted angrily.

"Listen, we're going to investigate this thoroughly but how were we supposed to know he'd break the rules of his restraining order and rape her?!" an unfamiliar male voice said defensively.

"What happened, Ryder?!" Marley said, immediately freaking out.

"Whoa, hey calm down, Marley! We'll explain later." he soothed, trying to get her to settle back down.

When he touched her arm, it brought back memories of what happened in the utility closet and she immediately hyperventilated, setting off the monitors. Soon enough, a nurse ran in the room and got her to calm down while all the adults came back in the room and they along with Ryder looked on helplessly.

After a little while, finally calmed down and realized how exhausted she was, but she had to know what happened.

"Ryder, please tell me what happened." she asked hollowly. She could tell he was hesitant to tell her and noticed his fists clenching.

"Can one of you guys tell her? Just thinking about it is making me sick." Ryder muttered angrily to the adults, avoiding her gaze. Then he got up to leave.

"I swear I'll be back tomorrow. I have to go home anyway. Feel better, Marls." he said with a small smile as he left.

Then she looked at the adults in the room, waiting for an answer. Then, Ms. Pillsbury spoke up.

"Ummm. After regionals, Jake followed you down an empty hallway and he took you into a utility closet. No one can be one hundred percent sure until the rape kit comes back, but you may have been sexually assaulted. When Jake was done, he left you in the closet and luckily Santana and Ryder were in that hallway looking for you when he walked out or he may never have been found. He was arrested when Ryder opened the closet and found you seriously hurt but he's not confessing to anything." she told her, avoiding Marley's eyes.

"Wait a minute. Is that all that happened? Is Kitty alright?" Marley asked, starting to get worked up again until Santana walked over to the bed to calm her down.

"Well, you have a few broken ribs, a serious concussion and your trachea was bruised from impact, but you should be fine physically. You just have to stay here for a few days and you'll probably be at home for a few days after that to recover. Also, you might have to sit out of Glee club for a short time because of the damage done to your ribs and windpipe." Mr. Schue answered quietly. "And Kitty is fine. She wanted to stay here but your mom took her home. They didn't want her to get too worried. Luckily, Jake never reached her." Mr. Schue finished, which relaxed Marley a little bit.

"Thank God she's fine." Marley breathed, sending out a silent prayer.

"Well I think all that matters is you're fine." Santana said quietly.

"Look, I think we're going to leave now. But we're glad you're ok. We'll call your mom and tell her you woke up. We'll see you later Marley." Ms. Pillsbury smiled as her and Mr. Schue got up to leave.

"I bet you're probably exhausted. Do you want me to leave?" Santana asked quietly when they were alone.

"You really don't have to stay. You probably have better things to do." Marley replied meekly.

"Actually the doctors said you shouldn't fall asleep just yet because of the concussion. How about we watch some TV and I'll make sure you stay awake?" Santana compromised, turning the channel to an obnoxious looking Spanish soap opera. Santana ran a running commentary, which made Marley laugh when she questioned the characters ethics.

A few hours later, a nurse let Marley fall asleep as long as Santana stayed and woke her up every few hours to make sure she was ok. But Marley couldn't fall asleep anyway because every time she drifted away, Jake interrupted her dreams. The third dream she had involved her and Ryder on a peaceful date, having a good time until Jake cornered them and hit Ryder repeatedly over the head with a baseball bat until he stopped breathing altogether. Marley was crying over his body when Jake aimed at her, but woke up before the bat could make contact. Marley woke up sobbing, wondering if the nightmare was ever truly going to end. She didn't notice that Santana had left and was surprised when Ryder walked in the room. She quickly tried to dry her tears and pull herself together but lost control when his warm eyes made contact with hers. Ryder put a bouquet of flowers on the bedside table and sat in the chair, holding her hand. He looked like he wanted to do more, but he obviously didn't want to freak her out. After a while, Marley calmed down and was taking shallow breaths and Ryder poured her some water. Marley took a drink, feeling better when the cold hit her inflamed throat.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

"I just wish I could get over this already." she said in frustration.

"You will. It'll just take some time." he reassured with a small smile. "Now let's change the subject. I know _The hunger Games _is your favorite movie, but that might be a little too intense, so I got something else: your favorite romantic movie, _The Notebook_." He announced proudly, pulling out the DVD and a laptop.

"You own a copy of _The Notebook_?" Marley giggled, instantly feeling better knowing Ryder brought one of her favorite movies to watch with her. "Well, it's my mom's copy actually. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't a sucker for it either. I mean, where else was I supposed to learn how to impress a girl?" he said smirking as she lightly slapped him away. Ryder started to sit back down in the chair until Marley grabbed his hand and pulled him next to her in the bed. He gave her a look.

"Are you sure, Marls?" he asked looking at the cords and wires hooked up to her. "Please Ryder?" she begged, giving him her best puppy eyes. It worked as he sat down carefully on the hospital bed and put his arm around her as she started the movie. Both of them were crying when the movie was over.

"So I guess the good guy does get the girl in the end after all." Ryder chuckled weakly, looking at Marley when the end credits rolled.

Marley smiled back at him and leaned over to kiss him. Ryder kissed her back and put his warm hand on her face. Marley responded by wrapping an arm around him to hold him closer. They were interrupted by a knock on the door and immediately broke apart, looking in the direction of the door. It was the Glee club and her mom.

"Wow, I've only been away for a couple of hours and you're already sucking face." Santana said sarcastically as Rachel smacked her arm and everyone gave her a look.

"Hey Marley! We wanted to see how you're doing and drop these off for you." Blaine said brightly, coming towards her with a big bouquet of flowers and a huge greeting card. Then, everyone else came closer, but still kept their distance.

Everyone had a lovely visit with her, but she was still a little subdued. Late in the afternoon, the nurse on the day shift came in and kicked everyone out, saying Marley needed her rest. Only a couple of people were allowed to stay, so obviously it was Ryder and her mom that stayed. Ryder stayed by her bedside and sang to her as she fell asleep. The psychologist that examined Marley said that it would take a while for her to heal, but with Ryder by her side, she finally believed she'd be ok.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but i've been super busy with school (I know that was my excuse last time an update was delayed, but ugh...college probs unfortunately.) I only updated this one because I had half of the chapter done already and just finished it tonight because I had some spare time. Now, I'm going to be busy with finals week coming up so I have to put a slight pause on my other fanfics until my summer vacation, which will be in about fifteen days for me. On the brightside though, I have some other ryley fanfic ideas percolating so we'll see how everything goes. By the way, I'm epically fangirling over all the new jennoist pics on tumblr. I really hope something gets confirmed soon. And maybe if jennoist is actually a thing, ryley won't be too far behind? It's not like RIB can avoid the sexual tension any longer and I doubt they know who the sophomore's endgames are at this point in their character's lives. Keep in mind, finnchel wasn't officially a thing until the end of season 2. And this may be my ryley feels going cray, but I honestly think Jake is Ryder's catfish, but I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks. I hope everyone enjoyed this week's ep of glee! I didn't see it yet because I was at a neon trees concert, which was amazing nonetheless. And if anyone is looking to check out a new indie band, i'm suggesting saints of valory. They opened for neon trees and they were awesome, but I digress. Sorry for rambling lol. I just want to say that this is the last chapter of safe haven. Honestly, some parts of this were so hard to write, but I appreciate all the interest in the story. I hope y'all liked how I tied up the story :) Anyways, please R&R and I can't thank you all enough for the continued support! I own nothing related to glee!**

7 Months Later

Seven months had passed since the regionals fiasco. Jake was finally put in a juvenile detention center and would be transferred to an adult prison when he turned eighteen to serve his complete prison term. Marley tried not to focus too much on him, but was still occasionally plagued by nightmares, which her therapist assured her was completely normal for someone who went through what Marley did. Despite the fact that Ryder and Marley kissed at regionals and in the hospital, and well, countless times since then, they never officially became a thing, even though everyone around them knew they were in love with each other. Ryder knew Marley would need some time before jumping into a relationship and respected it. Sure, it was frustrating but he knew she'd come around in her own time. All of their Glee friends joked that Ryder and Marley were just "reserved" for each other, and would make it official in no time, but both were content with taking it slow and seeing what would happen. They spent a lot of time together, usually helping Kitty with whatever she wanted. Kitty really did change as a result of the pregnancy, but at times, Marley couldn't take her pregnancy hormones.

"Kitty! I'm aware you're eight months pregnant, but can you please lay off?!" Marley yelled irritably as she went to the ringing front door. "Who is it now?" Marley grumbled as she opened the door to see who it was.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Ryder smirked as her face lit up.

"Maybe not. Perhaps she'll shut up and leave me alone now that it's two against one." Marley grumbled as she gave Ryder a hug at the door. Then, Kitty ruined the moment by waddling behind them and started speaking.

"I wouldn't have to lay off if you did things right Marley!" the pregnant girl stated.

"Oh my God, you asked for crushed ice in your sweet tea, which I gave you and then you decided you didn't want ice! How was I supposed to know? I can't read your freakin' mind!" Marley exclaimed.

"Whoa girls, retract the claws." Ryder chuckled, pulling Marley away from Kitty. "Here's the chunky monkey you asked for, Kitty. Now can you please leave?" Ryder said as he handed a pint of ice cream to kitty from a plastic bag in his hand.

"Fine. You two bore me anyway. I think I'm going to go watch some TV and will this baby out my freakin' uterus." Kitty replied grumpily, making her way back upstairs.

Ryder and Marley looked at each other and laughed as they went into her living room to watch a movie like they planned.

"Chunky monkey? You're such a people pleaser." Marley joked as they sat down.

"Don't think I forgot about you." he smirked as he pulled out a pint of her favorite ice cream, strawberry cheesecake and two spoons.

"Wow. You are the best." she giggled as they both took a bite of ice cream. After a while, Marley was snuggled up next to Ryder, practically half-asleep. Marley finally felt at peace, until her subconscious plunged her back in one of her nightmares. Ryder and Marley were sitting on the couch, watching a movie and sharing some intimate moments. Marley was reveling in every kiss and touch, but was interrupted by the sound of smashing glass.

"What was that?" asked Ryder as they looked around the room. They heard another loud noise and the bloodcurdling sound of a girl screaming. _Kitty._ Marley thought as she ran upstairs to see what was going on. As she went halfway up the stairwell, Marley felt a sharp blow land on her body and she was knocked backwards, falling on the floor as her head ricocheted off the wall hard. Before she could make sense of anything, she felt someone kick her in the ribs, making her scream in pain.

"I'll deal with you later." a voice said gruffly.

Then, she heard the deafening boom of what she thought was a gunshot and heard the sound of metal clattering to the floor moments after. Suddenly, she saw the unmistakable sneer on Jake's face standing over her, clearly wanting her to beg for mercy.

"I win." he murmured as he came down on her. Then, complete darkness.

"Marley! Wake up!" Ryder said frantically as he tried to shake her out of her nightmare. After a few minutes of her flailing and screaming, he grabbed her waist and forced her to look at him. "It's okay." he soothed as her shaking body collapsed against his steady chest. Ryder held her tightly and rubbed small circles in her back as she sobbed for several minutes.

"Are you okay Marls?" he asked, holding her face up to his. Marley pulled away and looked at the ground in shame. "Marley, hey. Look at me. You know you can trust me right? I'm not going to hurt you like he did." Ryder said gently as he took both of her small, clammy hands in his.

"I know." she replied quietly. "Am I ever going to be fine? I try to move on and it's like he's there, lurking in the shadows, waiting to destroy every small piece of happiness I have." Marley said.

"I know it seems like things won't get better now. He tried to break you, but you're still here. You never gave up. Don't you see how strong you are?" he asked softly, holding her gaze. He saw a sad smile light up her face.

"How is it that all you see in me is my good side?" she asked seriously.

"Because we see the parts in each other that we ourselves don't think exists." he replied. She laughed as he said this.

"Oh God, please tell me that you didn't steal that from a fortune cookie." she joked.

Ryder suddenly got an insane urge to kiss her. As soon as he acted on, Marley kissed him back. She smiled as he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. Then, Marley kissed him with more intensity than usual as she wrapped her slim arms around his neck and he held on to her waist. Things were quickly getting passionate as they were interrupted by someone obnoxiously clearing their throat. Marley knew it was Kitty and resisted the urge to throw the remote at the pregnant girl as they broke apart. But Marley noticed Kitty looked like she was in pain and spotted a wet spot on her leggings.

"Before you two start ripping each other's clothes off, you should probably know that my water broke." she said simply through gritted teeth.

Ryder and Marley looked at each other with wide eyes, not knowing what to do.

"Um, should we go to the hospital or something?" Ryder stammered.

"Yes of course we should! God, how can you be this stupid?!" Kitty snapped impatiently.

"Kitty, relax! It's not like we've ever been knocked up before!" Marley retorted as she went around the house, finding the stuff that Kitty would need from the list Millie left in the kitchen. "Ryder, take this towel and put it in the backseat of my car and start it up for me. We'll be out in a few minutes. Would you mind driving to the hospital?" Marley said to Ryder as she threw him an old towel and her keys.

" No, not at all. Do you need anything else?" he asked. Marley found it endearing that he was so willing to help.

"Not right now, but we'll just see how everything goes?" Marley replied distractedly as she looked up the number for Lima Memorial Hospital and Kitty's obstetrician. When Marley informed the hospital they would be arriving soon and then called her mom to explain what happened, Marley led Kitty out the door and threw the bag in the trunk of the car and sat in the backseat with Kitty, trying to calm her down to no avail.

"Damn it Ryder! Can't you drive any faster?!" Kitty screamed.

"Kitty, stop screaming at him! The contractions are still really far apart, we'll make it to the hospital." Marley soothed as she looked around at the traffic jam they were in on the way to the hospital.

"Ugh, come on!" Ryder said as he honked the car horn in frustration.

"Ryder! Do not do not drive like a crazed moron, I do not want to get in a wreck and have a baby delivered in my backseat." Marley warned.

"That's your biggest concern?! You don't want me to give birth in the backseat of this clunker?! Well, it's not like I want to bring my baby into this world in your piece of crap car!" Kitty screamed.

"Calm the hell down Kitty! It's helping anything when you're screaming at everyone when we're the only ones helping!" Marley screamed back. Before Kitty could reply, their catfight was interrupted by Ryder.

"HEY!" Ryder shouted, getting their attention.

"WHAT?!" they shouted back in unison as Ryder held his hands up in surrender.

"I was just going to tell you that we're at the hospital." he replied as they looked out the window.

"Well that took you long enough! What, you not only can't read words but you can't follow directions?!" Kitty replied sarcastically in between contractions.

Marley rolled her eyes as she helped Kitty out of the backseat and got her a wheelchair. Marley ran into the emergency room entrance and walked up to the reception area as the nurse gave her a dirty look.

"Hey, we have a pregnant girl whose water broke and if I have to deal with her any longer, I will flip out on someone." Marley said fiercely.

"Listen, your friend will have to wait. As you can see, we're really busy." the nurse replied snarkily.

"What?!" I called like a half hour ago and they said they would be ready if we came into the ER!" Marley replied, quickly losing patience.

"Well that was a half hour ago. Emergencies do actually happen in that time span. We're not running a hotel here, we can't hold beds." the nurse replied.

"Listen, I'm going to lay down the options here. Either you find an empty bed, shove some kid with a broken arm out of his bed or this girl will give birth in the middle of the lobby. Do you understand?" Marley replied with forced sweetness. Then, an attending doctor walked right into the middle of their conversation.

"What is going on here?" the doctor asked, looking at the three teenagers curiously.

"Well apparently the girl in the wheelchair couldn't keep her legs closed and is having a baby." the nurse replied rudely.

"Wait a minute? Kitty? We've been waiting for you since we got that call. What took so long?" the doctor said as he recognized his patient and immediately took control of the situation. "Are you the father?" he asked Ryder curiously while Marley laughed.

"Me? God, no!" Ryder said hurriedly.

"Why would he be the baby daddy, he can barely spell his name?! Even I have standards." Kitty scoffed, glaring at Ryder.

"Well why are they here? Do you have any family that can help you?" the doctor asked, confused.

"No, Dr. Fields, it's just them." Kitty said sadly.

"Well do you want someone in the delivery room with you?" Dr. Fields asked her. Kitty didn't hesitate to answer as she grabbed Marley's hand.

"Marley! I know it's been hard and I have no right to ask any more of you, but will you help me?" Kitty asked with tears in her eyes.

Marley smiled. "Of course I will." she replied as they went to the delivery room. Three hours later, the baby was crowning.

"Come on Kitty. Please, just one more push." Marley pleaded, trying not to pass out from the disgusting stuff she was seeing. Maybe Ms. Pillsbury should consider a field trip here to see the birth of a baby for their home and health science class at McKinley. It would probably make a pretty effective birth control. Marley thought to herself as Kitty pushed. After ten minutes, they heard the sound of a baby crying as the doctors cut the umbilical cord.

"It's a girl!" the midwife announced as she held up the baby for them to see. Marley couldn't believe that after all the drama and mess of the last year, a little and perfect miracle came out of it. "Do you want to hold her?" the midwife asked Kitty and passed the baby to her when she nodded yes.

"She's beautiful." Marley said softly. Kitty nodded in agreement.

"Well, Jake did one thing right at least." Kitty replied.

"Alright, well I'll let you get some rest. You did a good job Kitty." Marley said with a smile on her face as she left the room. Marley wandered around the hospital aimlessly for a half hour before heading back up to the maternity ward and saw the nurses putting Kitty's baby to bed as they put the nametag on the bed. _Alessandra Grace Wilde. _Marley remembered helping Kitty pick the name, but didn't think she'd actually go with it. When the nurse left, Marley was allowed to go in and see the baby girl.

"Hey sweetie." Marley cooed as she looked at the baby. She hoped that little Alessandra would stay as peaceful and innocent as she was now. Marley couldn't help but sing to the baby as she held her little hand. She sang one of the songs from one of her favorite Disney movies, singing softly enough for only Alessandra to hear.

A gentle breeze from hushabye mountain

Softly blows o'er lullaby bay

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting

Waiting to sail your worries away

It isn't far to hushabye mountain

And your boat waits down by the key

The winds of night so softly are sighing  
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea  
So close your eyes on hushabye mountain  
Wave good-bye to cares of the day  
And watch your boat from hushabye mountain  
Sail far away from lullaby bay

Marley didn't notice anyone was watching her until she was done singing and saw Ryder looking at her with a smile on his face. Marley smiled back and joined him outside.

"Is it weird that I can imagine you doing that in the future with a baby that looks remarkably like us?" he said with a smirk on his face as she wrapped herself around him and he gently pushed her against the wall.

"Well I hope that doesn't happen in the near future." she replied, shuddering at the memories in the delivery room. He chuckled as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Ryder. You could have any girl in the world. One who isn't messed up like me, but you still stick around. Why?" she asked seriously.

He looked her in the eye as he answered. "Well, because I'm not perfect and you're not perfect, but when we are together, we are perfect. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I let some other guy have his way with you. I should've fought harder. But we're here and our time is now. So what do you say Marls?" he said as he gently stroked a spot behind her ear.

"Ry, I don't want to wait anymore. Yeah, I wish that'd I would've seen Jake's true colors before anything happened but if it wasn't for that bad relationship, I wouldn't have known what a good one was. And you are right. We are perfect together. Nothing makes sense unless I'm with you. What I'm saying is, is that I'm ready. No more stalling. I just want to be with you for as long as possible. I love you." Marley said sincerely.

Ryder smiled as he connected the space between their lips. "I love you too Marley. Always have, always will." he replied.

Marley unconsciously deepened their kiss and let out an involuntary moan as his tongue freely explored her mouth. She wrapped her legs around him as he lifted her up against the wall. She kissed him with a feverish frenzy, needing his warm lips against hers. His hands lingered on her lower back, causing all of her nerve endings to become electrified. They broke away, breathless and smiling as if they were looking at each other for the first time. She flashbacked to when they first met. Both of them had changed so much even though it was only a year ago. Marley had no idea what the future would hold for them, but she was finally confident she made the right choice. She knew that when she was in Ryder's arms, she had found her safe haven.


End file.
